Bernadette Robinson is an Australian singer with an incredible vocal range. She has a unique ability to impersonate great singers of the past and present, both in their songs and in their everyday speech. She weaves instances of a singers's life around their songs and she does this with poignancy and humour. But the main reason she succeeds is that she's just as talented as the singers she impersonates. Her high notes are electric and the feeling she puts into her music is something only a singer who can act the song can achieve.
I've seen her perform on a few occasions and she has never disappointed. Her latest performance in the Fairfax studio at the Melbourne Arts Centre embraced the personas of Maria Callas, Judy Garland, Edith Piaf, Amy Whitehouse, Barbara Streisand, Kate Bush, Shirley Bassey, Miley Cyrus, Karen Carpenter and Dolly Parton.
I can't wait to see her perform again.
Paintings of interiors have always fascinated me. They seem to be about something else rather than a picture of a room. The ones I like best are rooms that seem to invite a state of meditation or reflection, that bring you into a calm centre.
The painting I did of my front bedroom was inspired by the sunlight streaming through the semi- transparent curtains. The curtains seemed to be as ethereal as the light itself.
Two of my favourite artists are Gwen John and Vilhelm Hammershoi. Here are two examples of how they interpret the space and light in a room in their house.
